The Covert Operators: Junk Deluxe competition

[arachnaut]

deleted by author

[koneko]

its very hard to summarize. there are so many good tracks made there... so that really, each one of the contributions has something good in it.. but those stood out for me --

caleb cobell - all the three have this really soft lead sound which i like. i also love how it snaps between the loops . . .

Jeff Ekblad - tight beat. the vox version is actually fun and reminding us not take ourselves so seriously . . also, feels full and complete in its 1 minute length

Julius Hochstrate - i have no idea, how you produced those sounds from the pack, but its funky. great groove and songwriting.

Martyn Mackrony - both tracks - excellent work. "track 1" is probably my favorites in the list

Paul Rose - fat like butter. elastic like gummy bears. very charming. another favorite

[Kobalt]

Very interesting how imposing limits can free stuff up
Sometimes we all have way too much choice

you're sooooo right! I guess it will remind us of the "less is more" approach next time we will loose our way among the esotheric parameters of a third party plug-in
what a great contest it was! I knew I will be impressed by the winner's track... I did not expect to be thrilled by so many tracks!!! really inspiring stuff here. thank you to the Covert Ops and good luck to them for choosing one
If I may help... my personal favorite would be Martyn's "track 1"
(oh and sorry for that stupid name I chose I didn't want to bug the player :p)

[mekon]

oddly enough, now I can hear Kobalts track
I do happen to think its one of the best
Along with Clem lagalice

[DjViral]

wow Koneko 4 is just waiting for a disgusting remix into a proper 3-4 min track. well done , that bass is rippin

[djgroovy]

These are my favourites:

- Jeff Ekblad - No Vox - overall groove
- Jim Hurley - The Last March - sound design
- Julius Hochstrate - Track 1 - cinematic
- Kryzstof Horn - Track 1 - ambience, sound design
- Martyn Mackrory - Dedbird the Sequal - programing
- Shai - Koneko 4 - originality, sound

[Martyn]

Dedbird the Sequel: This one is exceptionally well done and sounds like a snippet from a record that would be played at Studio B, part of an Electro-House set. I think this really delivers on a sound design and songwriting level. A+. How did you create your lead synth?

Thanks a bundle for the kind words Its really interesting that this one seems to work because I didn't use any form of drum rack or midi insrument. Every beat has been placed in the arrange window, pitched around and stretched using the warp markers and clip properties.

The lead "synth" is just lots of instances of the "BangingInBoxA4" sample that's been stretched and pitched, I then used a heavily automated EQ8 followed by a compressor and grain delay to effect it.

I recon placing samples directly in the arrange window like this sounds tighter than using a virtual midi track to do the same thing, I think might do all of the bulk of my drum programming this way for a while to see how it affects composition, it makes different ideas happen for me when I break out of the old midi paradigm. On the other hand, this tune is a throwback to stuff I used to do a few years back, so maybe it's not such a great idea, you lose the ability to play the beats.

[hoffman2k]

Hey Guys,

The winners will be announced during or after the weekend.
As you may have noticed, the prize pool got a little bit bigger due to the release of Traces 2. So we're making it worth the wait.

If anybody else wants his (track)name changed in the mp3 player, now is the time. I fixed all of the requested names so far.
Next time we're having a file naming rule, thats for sure - live and learn.

- Bjorn

[contakt321]

Dedbird the Sequel: This one is exceptionally well done and sounds like a snippet from a record that would be played at Studio B, part of an Electro-House set. I think this really delivers on a sound design and songwriting level. A+. How did you create your lead synth?

Thanks a bundle for the kind words Its really interesting that this one seems to work because I didn't use any form of drum rack or midi insrument. Every beat has been placed in the arrange window, pitched around and stretched using the warp markers and clip properties.

The lead "synth" is just lots of instances of the "BangingInBoxA4" sample that's been stretched and pitched, I then used a heavily automated EQ8 followed by a compressor and grain delay to effect it.

I recon placing samples directly in the arrange window like this sounds tighter than using a virtual midi track to do the same thing, I think might do all of the bulk of my drum programming this way for a while to see how it affects composition, it makes different ideas happen for me when I break out of the old midi paradigm. On the other hand, this tune is a throwback to stuff I used to do a few years back, so maybe it's not such a great idea, you lose the ability to play the beats.

Wow Martyn! What a creative and interesting technique, I would have never thought of that (pitching and stretching). I am really impressed with the results you got.

As we have all listened to the entries and hear about the techniques behind them I think one of the things I am taking away is how incredibly powerful Live is and how many creative techniques you can apply to find a solution. It's almost overwhelming.

It might be cool to do a contest with just one sound for everything and have people mangle it into drums, synths, bass, etc sounds.

Everyone who entered please keep sharing your techniques - I am really enjoying learning about the approach.

[bommel lakanski]

good entries.

my favorite one is track one by mister mackory. tripping.
kryzstof horns track gets the silver medal.
i think these two stand out.
please share your sets.
here's mine:
http://julius.hochstrate.googlepages.co ... ion-20.als

may the best man win.

[pepezabala]

and the winner is?


my fav is also martyn mackory "track 1".

[Machinate]

we're getting close, people More stuff coming up from us real soon... I think

[contakt321]

And the winner is (drumroll)...

[Jekblad]

stop making me check this thread!!!!

Gaaaargh!!! I must.... know.... the winner.....!

[arachnaut]

You know you can set a 'watch' notification for a thread, don't you?